We continue to fall into the good graces of the Wizards of the Coasts PR gods and have recieved 3 spoiler cards for the upcoming Magic: The Gathering 11 set. With Origins in full swing and Gencon just a mere 40 days away, Magic fever should be at an all time high. What better time to give you a sneak peek of a common, uncommon, and rare you can expect to see in the next set. As a fan of red/green decks, I couldn’t be happier with Fiery Hellhound and Obstinate Baloth. While I have been out of the game for quite some time, it seems that the Crystal Ball artifact may find itself right at home in any blue control deck. Our resident MtG writer, Kyle Boddy, may just have to step in here and let us know exactly how good each card is and where it may find a place in tournament play. Hit the jump for a complete view of all three cards!Continue reading →

We just got word from Wizards PR pipeline that Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers will drop on June 15th via Steam. Not content with giving you the core game and the first expansion for the low low price of $9.99, Wizards is also giving away a free Nissa Revane foil promo card if you pre-purchase it and live in a participating country. As you can see, Nissa is getting all dolled up for the occasion and busting out her finest Kanyeezy lyrics for the crowd. Details on how to get your foil promo can be found at the Duels of the Planeswalkers offical site early next week. As for you Nissa, we’ll see you soon looking stellar in foil around the PNG offices.

Above is a 7min 49sec YouTube video of what appears to be a trailer for the next Mortal Kombat movie called Mortal Kombat Rebirth. It’s a little gory, a little crazy, and a whole lot of sexy. There’s speculation that this may just be a way to hype a Mortal Kombat game announcement during E3 or a pilot of sorts to get funding and interest to film an actual hard “R” rated MK. Only time will tell, but one thing is for sure… Jeri Ryan is still pretty damn hot.

So apparently Wizards and Valve have struck a deal to bring Duels of the Planeswalkers to PC gamers this summer. Per a press release by Wizards PR, it will be available for pre-order via Steam on June 1st and will cost $9.99. The package includes the core game and the first expansion along with all the goodies you would expect from a Steamworks game. No information on if the second expansion pack will be available for purchase. While my first impressions of the XBLA version of the game put the game somewhere around average, it has since grown on me. Look for a review of the PC version here shortly after it comes out!

Well my friends, it’s true! Valve is offering Portal on PC and Mac for free until May 24th and there appear to be no strings attached. Their generosity is most likely linked to the fact that Steam is now Mac compatible. This will be an excellent hub for those starved Mac gamers to download to their heart’s content. Welcome to the fold our considerably more hip brethren, it’s good to have you.

Just a friendly reminder that Gencon 2010 event registration goes live at 12:00pm EST today. That gives you a little under an hour to comb through a list that’s now over 6,600 event entries long! Some of the crew from Pixels and Grids will be attending this year and we’re looking forward to quite a few events. At the top of our list is TerrorWerks, a sci-fi Live Action Role Playing (LARP) played with airsoft guns. So go ahead and trudge through the impressive Gencon events list and register for some games PNG’ers!

We heard you crazy kids liked Magic. We also heard you really like seeing spoiler cards and artwork, so we got you some. We have 6 spoiler cards and a bunch of artwork from the upcoming expansion, Rise fo the Eldrazi, after the break. I must say, it Wizard’s is pumping out some gorgeous and impressive artwork. This is of course in my professional opinion as a gaming blogger.Continue reading →

If you preordered your copy of Bad Company 2 for a console and are just getting home from a midnight release, I (along with many Steam kids) envy you. You see, there’s been a bit of a SNAFU with the digital PC version of the game for Steam. This does not affect the Direct 2 Drive or EA digital versions of the game and those kids are most likely blowing each other up in a war-torn virtual landscape as we speak. This is, however, not the reason I’m posting. No, no, no PNG’ers… the real reason is the fallout one can witness on the Steam forums. You’ll find internet memes, flame wars, and a lot of other nonsense in those forums. An excellent time killer and source of instant amusement.

As one of the many that preordered the game on Steam, I can understand the frustration. Vecna knows that Valve’s servers are sometimes sub par and it may very well be a cluster frak if DICE/EA/Valve don’t get a preload kicked off soon. That being said, Valve gives a clear timeline one when their preordered games unlock. A quick look at Steam’s store page for Bad Company 2 shows the game isn’t even set to unlock until 2PM EST. This has actually been bumped up from the original 6PM EST that was being displayed when I ordered the game. DICE/EA/Valve also never stated that there would be a preload. Fact of the matter is that it doesn’t really matter if the preload happens now or in the morning… we still can’t play it. Until then there will be a whole lot of QQ and very little PEW PEW.

Oh, and I believe that’s (not) an actual picture of Gabe Newell. I pixellated the tasty bits so as to leave something to imagination.

Welcome to Pixels and Grids!

I'm currently in the process of giving PNG a new look. Expect a more personal one man blog type atmosphere with at least one article, review, or interview per week. All previous authors still have access and you may find a special guest post from them every once in awhile. Bro-Downs will only be recorded and posted on special occasions. While a shell of it's former self, PNG is going to stick around just for pure entertainment and diversionary value. Pop by every once in a while and as always, keep rolling those 20's.
James Jones